Water clarifier



May 6, 1941. c. GRAHAM WATER 'CLARIFIER Filed March 5, 1940 Patented May 6, 1941 WVATER CLARIFIER CharlesGraham, Oroville, Califl, assignor of one fourth to Harold E. Sullivan and one-fourth to Tom Smith, both of Portela, Calif..

Application March. 5, 1940, Serial No. 322,395

4 Claims.

This invention relates to water clarifiers particularly suitable for locomotive boilers and is intended to embody improvements on the water clarifier shown in my United States Patent Number 2,099,062, dated November 16, 1937.

In principle the present invention operates generally in the manner set forth in said patent, its object being to improve the structure with respect to various features of construction, some of which have been found desirable to improve the operation of the clarifier disclosed in said patent, and others of which are intended to answer certain requirements of the inspection laws.

Said patent discloses a clarifier which may be readily installed in an ordinary locomotive boiler between the fire tubes and the shell of the boiler, and comprising a casing which is provided at the top of one side or end with an inlet opening through which water will enter incident to the ordinary circulation in the boiler and in which casing the speed of flow will be slowed down to permit sediment to settle into a sump, the clarified water then flowing out through an outlet opening into the main body of the boiler. The sediment may be drawn 01f from the sump through a blow-off valve. The present clarifier operates in the same way, but has been improved With respect to its form and configuration; also with respect to the manner of attachment to the boiler shell; and also with respect to the arrangement and details of the discharge pipe from the sump, and with respect to the baflle or extension adjacent the inlet opening. These and other features will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of part of a locomotive boiler showing the position of the clarifier in dotted lines.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of the clarifiers removed from the boiler.

Fig. 4 is a detail in section of the sump connection to the blow-off.

5 is a detail in section on the line 55 of Fig. 3.

In the drawing two of the clarifiers are shown, one at each side, but one may be used if desired. When two are used they are made right and left, but are otherwise the same and a description of one will serve for both. The boiler shell is indicated at 5, and each clarifier will be disposed at one side thereof between the shell and the boiler tubes, as disclosed in said patent. Each comprises a receptacle or casing 1 with a laterally enlarged head or top part 1a the rear wall of which has an inlet opening 8 and the front wall of which is provided with a plurality of outlet openings 9, five being shown, these being preferably located between the high and low water levels. Owing to the normal circulation of water in the boiler when heated the water will enter through the opening 8 and its speed will be slowed down so that the impurities will settle into the lower part or sump of the casing and the cleared water will pass out through the openings 9. An additional or vent opening 9a may be provided in the upper part of the casing to permit the escape of steam.

To the wall of the casing directly under and adjacent the inlet opening 8 is secured by welding or otherwise a trough-shaped extension or baffle plate 20, shown in section in Fig. 5. The purpose of this is to bring the effective inlet or supply to the inlet opening 8 as near as desirable to the rear flue sheet of the boiler, the line of which is indicated at 2| in Fig. 1. This extension plate acts as a sort of bafile to direct the upward flow of water to suitably close proximity to the flue sheet, and prevent surging at the inlet to the clarifier. It has been found that the device works better with such an extension plate than without it.

In my said patent the clarifier is shown with three sides, the end walls being welded to the boiler shell. To correct certain objections to this and permit convenient removal of the clarifier I construct the same with a fourth or inside wall 1b, thereby providing a complete casing which is supported in spaced relation with respect to the boiler shell 5 by means of studs 22 and spacing ferrules 23 on the studs between the boiler shell and the adjacent wall of the casing. These studs are provided in suitable numbers around the flanges 'lc formed by the projecting edges at the sides and top of the inner plate 1b of the casing. This spacing of the clarifier from the boiler shell serves to clear all obstructions on the inside of the boiler shell and avoids objections incident to welding the casing to the shell.

For the sump connection I provide a short pipe 25 welded into the lower end of the casing wall lb and adapted to fit into a hole at 26 in the boiler shell. A reinforcing plate 21 is applied on the outside around this hole and is fastened in place as by rivets 28. The reinforcing plate forms a seat for the joint ring 29 which receives a fitting 30 held in place by studs 3| which extend through the reinforcing plate and boiler shell and are riveted over on the inside of the boiler. A blow-off cook 32 of known construction is preferably applied directly to the fitting, the long blow-off pipe shown in the said patent being preferably omitted. It will be obvious that the clarifier casing can be set in place and the proper connections made without the difficulty of welding or soldering operations. The enlargement M at the top of the clarifier gives a relatively large area or volume of slow Water which assists in settlement by gravity of the foreign particles or impurities in the water, and since they are located above the level of the upper fire tubes or the top of the crown they do not interfere therewith.

The various details and improvements disclosed herein have been found to add greatly to the efficiency and decrease the cost of the clarifier.

I claim:

1. A water clarifier for locomotive type boilers,

comprising a casing supported on the inside of the boiler shell, said casing having an inlet opening at one side and an outlet opening at the 0pposite side, and an extension bafiie plate projecting from the side of the casing adjacent the inlet opening.

2. A water clarifier as in claim 1, the bafile plate being trough-shaped.

3. A water clarifier for locomotive type boilers comprising a curved casing adapted to be inserted between the fire tubes and the boiler shell, said casing having an inner Wall with extended flanges at the edges, and supporting fasteners between said flanges and the boiler shell spacing said casing from the shell.

4. A Water clarifier as in claim 3, said fastenings including studs and spacing ferrules thereon, between the flanges and the boiler shell.

CHARLES GRAHAM. 

